World Still Has 12 Million Slaves

A new report from the State Department shows that there are 12 million people worldwide who are victims of “trafficking in persons” — in other words, slaves.

“Countries that once denied the existence of human trafficking now work to identify victims and help them overcome the trauma of modern slavery, as well as hold responsible those who enslave others,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a letter accompanying the report.

But there’s still much work ahead, the report says. The State Department estimates that only 0.4 percent of all modern slavery victims were identified last year. Human trafficking is a multibillion-dollar business — and will probably grow so long as global governments fail to crack down on it more forcefully.

Laws don’t always favor the well-being of the victims.

The report includes testimony from trafficking victims around the globe. One American survivor ran away from home when she was 11 and moved in with a man who sexually abused her and forced her into prostitution. When the police found her, she was charged with committing prostitution and no effort was made to find her pimp. Her lawyers are appealing the conviction, arguing that at 13, she was too young to consent legally to sex and thus could not be charged as a prostitute. The report notes that for every one person trapped in sex slavery, nine people are caught in forced or bonded labor.

The United States received the State Department’s highest ranking in terms of being in compliance with UN anti-trafficking protocol. Lowest rankings went to China, India, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Iran.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.